lets see if i understand why to go hydro?

ok so the reason it grows faster and could have fuller buds...
is you are putting nutrients consistantly on the roots?

dirt absorbs (and rockwool holds) more water so you cant cosistantly feed the nutrients to hte plant?

if given the same grow space and you put dirt and hydro side by side, would the hydro outgrow the dirt grow? or could you get equal quality and yield?

i am rebuilding my grow area soon, and am thinkng of switching to hydro... dirt is easy imo... i dotn want anythign to difficult....

what hydro system woudl you recomend for a area 2 ft wide, 6 ft tall, 6 ft long?

thanks

Hydro is easy... What kind of light do you have? You could get two containers that are 2'x3' or just go with one that maybe a lil longer than 3'. I suggest getting a container that's alteast 8" deep, install a hose with a valve with some sealant that is for aquariums (get at homedepot) put the container on something so it will drain easily. You want easy right?

Don't forget with hydro you need some mosquito dunks and don't add sugars/molasis to your water.

I flowerin my first plant now .. with hydro system .. and its amazing ..
Either I`m lucky or its just this system .. I made mistakes over mistakes , just keep on fuckin the poor girl .. but she keeps flowering and flowering .. lol
its easy and much more fun .. go for it and g.luck

i just started hydro after doing dirt, and the level of control with the ph, nutes, and watering is so much nicer, with dirt it was more of a guessing game for me.

i have a 400 watt hps.

what style of hydro do you all use?

why mosquito nets? -- i didnt think water jsut sat thier unmoving...

I love hydro and found it much easier than dirt.

I use DWC, which is great as long as you can keep the temps down.

You should do lots of research into different methods of hydro and work out which is best suited to you.

I have tried, Hempy - Drip and DWC and I am now going to build a clever DWC system that will only need looking at once every 7 days. I went with this system because it worked best for me.

It is my personal belief that it is easier to get quality weed with a hydro system. There is a lot to learn but you can learn most of it out of a book, unlike dirt where you have to learn a lot from experience.
But, I believe that you can grow great weed with either method it's really down to how much time and effort you spend doing it.

Hydro is great, as long as you dial your environment in! Dirt is less involving if you just have a view plants. No need for res. chiller ($400), no need for res and accessories i.e. pumps etc ($200+) and it goes on and on depending how far you want to take this

Good luck mate,
Unity

with DWC the water is standing. Either way, standing or not fungus nats may try and eat at your roots and lay larvae down there. The mosquito dunks sit in the water and release a chemical that will prevent larvae from growing and will not affect your plants.

unity said:

Hydro is great, as long as you dial your environment in! Dirt is less involving if you just have a view plants. No need for res. chiller ($400), no need for res and accessories i.e. pumps etc ($200+) and it goes on and on depending how far you want to take this

Click to expand...

unity said:

Good luck mate,
Unity

Click to expand...

I agree that hydro is great but, not that it is quite as expensive as you are making out.

My first hydro grow, I used two rubber made storage containers and 3 air pumps from the pet shop. cost less than 100 bucks.
They where placed under a 400 what light and I got 12oz's

Jriggs said:

ok so the reason it grows faster and could have fuller buds...
is you are putting nutrients consistantly on the roots?

Click to expand...

Different types of hydro use different methods of growing which have different growth rates.
One of the reasons hydro is faster than soil growing is air. In a hydro system you can increase the speed of your plants growth by using a method that allows more air to reach the roots.

Such systems are.
Ario ponics: roots hang in air and are kept moist by sprayers.
DWC: Roots hang directly in a Rez that is kept aerated by pumps
NFT: Roots hang in gutters in which water flows.
Ebb and Flow: The act of Flooding and Ebbing pushing out stale air and sucks in fresh air.

These are "Active Systems", in all these systems you are using water and air pumps to increase the amount of air around the roots.

There are also "Passive Systems" such as:

Hempy Bucket and Wick Systems

These are slower than active systems but faster than soil growing. In these systems you use a very light growing medium which hold more air than soil such as perlight.

Hope that helps and that my information is correct and none bias.

I stand corrected Mr. Green , we can get our 'feet wet' with a lot less money, and I wish that would have been content right there as well ,but once you get hooked you will most likely sooner or later end up with a environment that will make it possible to reach potential. And some of us live in climates that require a bigger investment right from the get go in order to deal with high heat situations. If we don't address res temps above 73 degrees we are either gambling or buying a lot of additives in order to fix a messed up environment. Either way, I hear you, and certainly do not want to discourage anyone from starting the 'coolest hobby' ever .

Unity

Mr Green Man said:

I agree that hydro is great but, not that it is quite as expensive as you are making out.

My first hydro grow, I used two rubber made storage containers and 3 air pumps from the pet shop. cost less than 100 bucks.
They where placed under a 400 what light and I got 12oz's




Different types of hydro use different methods of growing which have different growth rates.
One of the reasons hydro is faster than soil growing is air. In a hydro system you can increase the speed of your plants growth by using a method that allows more air to reach the roots.

Such systems are.
Ario ponics: roots hang in air and are kept moist by sprayers.
DWC: Roots hang directly in a Rez that is kept aerated by pumps
NFT: Roots hang in gutters in which water flows.
Ebb and Flow: The act of Flooding and Ebbing pushing out stale air and sucks in fresh air.

These are "Active Systems", in all these systems you are using water and air pumps to increase the amount of air around the roots.

There are also "Passive Systems" such as:

Hempy Bucket and Wick Systems

These are slower than active systems but faster than soil growing. In these systems you use a very light growing medium which hold more air than soil such as perlight.

Hope that helps and that my information is correct and none bias.

Click to expand...

I have to plug for dwc hydro, it is great I just completed my first hydro, it was wonderfull and much eaiser than dirt imo, just keep it simple meter, gh nutes, ro water and airpump with airstones, my only problem with hydro was my colas got fatter and bigger than I am used to so i got budrot in the two main colas. My fault though... got to keep humidity down when they are that fat!
good luck!

You are right.

I stoped gorwing DWC for the summer beacuse of temps (Couldn't justifie a water cooler) and It is true that over the last year I seem to have brought every gadget i have come accrose.

I was just trying to make the piont that you can do it for a lot less. but you are right the majority of uus will get hooked and end up spending loads.

These days I tell my self that "I will only upgrade when I reach 100% efficancy with what I already have"

It's all about Oxygen to the root system. It's easy to get water and nutrients to the roots but it's the O2 that makes the difference. I doubled my harvest going from soil to Aero.

You could build a simple Aero/NFT system for under $80 using PVC fence posts.

System is on a cycle timer set to one minute on and five minutes off. This gives the roots the max amount of O2 without drying out.

You don't have problems with water temps either when you run a cycle timer.

Heres a picture of mine.

it all seems kind of daunting next to soil..

can you get the same hieght, liek does it have hte support of a soil plant?

Do i have ot worry about pests and bugs as much? -- (why do i need mosquito pots?).

Im still debating, I want to finish up this grow first and establish a few moms (all plants are still in veg since i go on vacation in 2 weeks so i jsut keep trimming em small, dont want to have em in flower if im not home incase of stink or problems...

but ...
I am lookign at the homeade NFT system or even a homemade aeroponic system .. it doesnt seem worth it to purchase what i can build probably better. ( I am handy).

I am also worried about clogged shit with hydro/aero.. what about fog? or they are pricey?

I have never tryed NFT and it is not a system I would go with.

Hight shouldn't be an issue. But, my lst grow, I grew from clone, flowered after 3 weeks VEG (10") and finsihed with plants 18" tall, I had 8 plants in two home made DWC units, under a 400W HPS light, I got 12oz. I think I could have gotten 14oz if I had added two more plants.

My piont is, small plants are probably more efficent than big plants.

Don't be put off, you will get into the swing of it and I bealive you will injoy.

For a first time I would go with DWC - Ario - or Ebb and Flow. There lots of info on these systems on this sight and lots of people will be able to help you with your grow.

Jriggs said:

it all seems kind of daunting next to soil..

Click to expand...

It's way easier than soil. Soil is pure guesswork. You never really know your exact PPM or PH.

With Hydro you can give your plants exactly the right amount of nuts.

You can never overwater.

I harvest 14 plant every three weeks. 1-2oz. per plant. Due the math.

Pictures don't lie.

There Lovely, I would like to see a pic of them in say 4 weeks

what do you all think of hempy buckets? they seem almost as simple as dirt -- but more control.

almost as simple as dirt.

No mate, hydro is simpler, it just differnt infomation.

Hempy is okay, but I think you will injoy using an active system more.